Echesspedia

The Irish word for chess is ‘ficheall’ . The old Irish folk tales (dating back thousands of years BC) refer to games of ‘ficheall’ (PROBABLY a different but similar game). One of the most famous stories (The Pursuit of Diarmuid & Gráinne) includes the first ever instance of 3-fold repetition in a game between Oisín and Fionn Mac Cumhaill.

In modern times, the first Irish Championship was played in 1865. J.J. O’Hanlon (nine times Irish Champion between 1913 and 1940) was instrumental in the founding of FIDE but was not present at the founding meeting and so we are members only since 1932. Ireland is one of the few nations to have competed in every single one of the 36 Olympiads.

The 32 counties of Ireland have always been represented by one single chess federation (now known as the Irish Chess Union) both before independence (when all counties were part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) and since (when 26 counties formed the Republic of Ireland, while 6 counties have remained a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

Member of FIDE since 1933, Ireland has participated to 29 Olympiads since 1935 (except 1937, 1950 and 1978). Its best achievement was 31^st in 1935. In 2010 the country listed 1 IGMs, 6 IMs and a total of 21 titles players.

The national team and Baburin at board one against Bosnia at the 2006 Olympiad

The national champions were: 1865 Rynd, 1885 Pollock, 1886 Pollock, 1912 O’Hanlon, 1915 O’Hanlon, 1922 Cranston, 1924 Baker, 1925 O’Hanlon, 1926 O’Hanlon, 1927 Baker, 1928 Baker, 1929 Baker, 1930 O’Hanlon, 1931 Cranston, 1932 O’Hanlon, 1933 Creevey, 1934 Creevey, 1935 O’Hanlon, 1936 O’Hanlon, 1937 Cox, 1938 Cox, 1939 B. O’Sullivan, 1940 O’Hanlon, 1946 B. O’Sullivan, 1947 Duignan, 1948 D. O’Sullivan, 1949 Kennedy, 1950 Maher, 1951 Bourke, 1952 Schuster, 1953 Mulcahy, 1954 Kelly, 1955 Maher, 1956 D. O’Sullivan, 1957 O’Sullivan, 1958 Heidenfeld, 1959 Reilly 1960 Reilly, 1961 Reid, 1962  Reid & Littleton, 1963 Heidenfeld, 1964 Heidenfeld, 1965 Littleton, 1966 Moles, 1967 Heidenfeld, 1968 Heidenfeld, 1969 Patterson, 1970 Henry, 1971 Moles, 1972 Heidenfeld, 1973 McGrillen, 1974 Doyle, 1975 Keogh & Ludgate, 1976Kernan, 1977 Ludgate & Devanney, 1978 Ludgate, 1979 Dunne & Keogh, 1980 P.Delaney, 1981 Dunne & Short, 1982 J. Delaney, 1983 Dunne, 1984 Curtin, 1985 Orr & Curtin, 1986 Delaney, P.Short, 1987 J.Delaney, 1988 P.Short, 1989 N.Carton , 1990 J.Delaney, 1991 Brady, 1992 Brady, 1993 Carton, 1994 Orr, 1995 B.Kelly, 1996 R.O’Donovan, 1997 Ryan, 1998 C.Daly, 1999 C.Daly, 2000 Heidenfeld, 2001 Brady, 2002 Collins, 2003 Brady, 2004 Ryan, 2005, C. Daly, 2006 Brady, 2007 Kelly and Brady, 2008 Baburin, 2009 Daly, 2010 Lopez, 2011 Brady.